This afternoon I was cutting the grass in a hurry. I was trying to beat an incoming storm. I was thinking about all the things I was able to do today, and all the things I’d still like to savor on this passing Saturday. Time seems to grow shorter and shorter as I grow older, and it feels like so much is lost or left undone. And so… I was walking fast, making lists in my head, and hoping I’d still have energy to dive into my evening activities.

When I finished the front yard and came to the back, I was suddenly struck by my neighbors three lilac bushes in full bloom Why just the other day, I was mourning the fact that lilac season is done. And there… right before my eyes were three bushes spilling over blossoms. Of course, I stopped to smell even as the mower bellowed to keep moving. But oh, what a gift… to pause in the middle of my hurry and befriend those sweet blossoms.

I finished the yard, and decided to walk over to the house where the lilacs bloomed and see if the owner would allow me to pick a bouquet. An older man came to the door, and you know what… I loved him right away. I asked him to excuse my “covered in green grass look” but would he mind if I picked some lilacs? He shared that he was a mess, too… as he had been working in his yard as well… and of course I could have some flowers. He said he might join me and pick a bouquet for his wife. He said he was newly married.

And as we met at the bushes, we spoke with ease… about losing love and finding love, and about the gift of loving what we do in life… and appreciating lilacs. He told me a sad story. And we lingered much longer over lilacs than most might. But it was precious…precious to my heart and to the listening souls of the sweet flowers. We were strangers this morning, but a sacred space opened to let us into each other’s lives… and we are more textured this evening.

Lately I’ve also been thinking about what drains me compared to what feeds me. Hurry drains. Presence feeds. Overextension drains. Focus feeds. By the book, fitting in the box, standardization, and fear drains. Flexibility, creativity, openness, and compassion feed.

I think we need to see each other more. I think we need to become more aware of what is in full bloom right in front of our noses. I think we need to tell more stories and bend more rules. I think we need to spend less time fretting over nonsensical banter and more time affirming the good. People will tell you to trim your hedges. People will tell you to be on time, to work late, to multitask, to be stressed. People will tell you to hurry up, to shut up and put out. People will tell you that talking with strangers over lilac bushes is a waste of time, that just sharing such a story is sappy, and there are plenty of other things more pressing and much more important.

But there are other ways and there are other voices who invite us to linger, to wander, to lie in the grass and look at the sky. Let’s bid farewell to days numbed by the noise of nonsense and rigidity. Let’s call off all the frantic obsessions with striving and measuring up, and simply be led by what is natural and wise, humane and divine. Somehow, I believe if we can, we will find the time we seek, we will be overwhelmed only by love, and there will be peace enough in the land of plenty.

This life… this one life of ours… is not meant to be squandered on that which is futile. This life… this one life is created for the smallest of moments that return us to the sacred… all around us, and in us, and in the kindest of strangers we have yet to meet.

It will be another year until the lilac season comes again, however, I do know a sunflower field rising up. No need to wait. No need.